Azmoun and Jahanbakhsh to miss Olympic qualifiers

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, The Iranian Olympic football team will be without its two stars Sardar Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh in the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship in Qatar.

Azmoun is currently playing for FC Rostov in the Russian Premier League while Jahanbaksh is a key member of AZ Alkmaar in Eredivisie.

As the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship will not be held in FIFA days AZ Alkmaar and FC Rostov officials didn’t allow their Iranian players to accompany Iran Olympic team in the tournament.

The AFC U-23 Championship acts as the AFC qualifier for the Olympic football tournament. The top three teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics men’s football tournament in Brazil as the AFC representatives.

A total of 16 teams will play in the tournament which will be held in Qatar from January 12 to 30.